Come see me at Chesterwood Oct. 19th

I’ll be doing a portrait head demonstration in the main studio at Chesterwood in Stockbridge, Mass. on Saturday, October 19th. This magnificent landscape and historic home was the working studio of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and much other notable work. Don’t know who I’ll be sculpting yet–maybe DCF himself!

Stay tuned for more information–hope to see you.

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A Wedding Album re-released

My friend, writer and filmmaker Carolyn Jacobs, made this short film as part of her AFI program back when we were all young and hopeful. It won a Golden Trailer award, even! Take a look…

A Spelter Gentleman

Another Ansonia clock figure, this dashing artist in 17th century garb seems to be identified as both Rembrandt and Rubens. About 8″ high, he’s a companion for Erato. I’m keeping his original pewter patina but refreshing it with pale gold highlights and darker shadows.

Tiny Erato

Erato, the muse of romantic poetry, is often shown with a lyre and wreath of roses in her hair. This 6-inch goddess was once a decoration on an elaborate Ansonia clock, and is made of spelter. Spelter, while sometimes used merely as a synonym for zinc, is often used to identify a zinc alloy. Early twentieth-century Art Nouveau and Art Deco figures and lamps were often made of spelter. The metal has been used since about the 1860s to make statues, tablewares, and lamps that resemble bronze. I re-patinaed Erato using Puritan bronze and gold highlights, mimicking contemporary French bronzes.

#GoddessID

My Etsy shop is back up and running

I just listed a few of my small-to-medium size sculptures, plus I’m selling select items from my personal collection and also tools and materials. Check back from time to time to see what new gems I’ve added.

 

 

A servant girl doing a polka, or a New York icon?

Emma Stebbins’ “Angel of the Waters” atop Bethesda Fountain in New York City’s Central Park had a rocky road to greatness:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/obituaries/emma-stebbins-overlooked.html?action=click&module=Features&pgtype=Homepage

The Mold Room

A recent visit to Skylights Studios in Woburn, Mass. by the New England Sculptors Associaton (NESA) was hosted by the owner, sculptor Robert Shure. Bob explained the history of his business, and how it has incorporated several significant historic collections from the Boston area, including the PP Caproni and Brother inventory of plaster molds, some made from original 19th century sculpture and some from classical sculpture in Europe. Bob’s personal collection includes many examples of 19th century American vernacular sculptor John Rogers and other gems. This photo is a peek at just one of the mold rooms.

Meta Fuller collection revived at new Danforth

African-American sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller lived and worked in Framingham, Mass. for most of her life. She studied in Paris with Rodin as a very young woman, and married late, to the Liberian psychiatrist Solomon Fuller. Fuller’s tiny studio, once in the attic of her family home, is reconstructed now as part of the Danforth Museum’s move and restoration. Fuller’s husband did not approve of his wife having a career apart from marriage and motherhood; but Fuller, persistent and driven to represent her heritage as a proud and historically significant one, eventually built a separate studio with a small inheritance of her own. The Fuller Room shows the Danforth’s entire collection, including molds, armatures, bas-reliefs, and small, unfinished work, and is inspiring.

Nora Valdez in Maynard

Argentinian sculptor Nora Valdez is showing drawing and sculpture at the Maynard, Mass. public library now through the end of May. Valdez creates poignant images about immigration, diaspora, and the experience of dislocation and communication.

Kapwani Kiwanga and Kathleen Ryan at the List Center

Now at MIT’s List Center in Cambridge are powerful installations by women sculptors, Kapwani Kiwanga and Kathleen Ryan. Kiwanga’s installation, “Safe Passage,” creates an experience of the power dynamics inherent in an unfamiliar environment. Sculpted searchlights and walls of slatted two-way mirrors form a disorienting pathway leading to a gallery displaying pages of a Green Book, on which are addresses of safe houses

In “Cultivator,” Kathleen Ryan uses mighty industrial spare parts in combination with delicate natural forms—floral-ish pods of wire and beads hung from giant iron petals, and dense tiles of abalone shell carefully placed in the interior of salvaged ship parts. Draped on the floor are polished bowling balls that form two enormous bracelets—one black, one white—gems for a giantess. Through April 21. (at top, gallery view of “Cultivator.”)